Moonbreeze (The Dragonian Series Book 4) (29 page)

“Blake.”

“Constance, she is safe. She’s where I can see her, it’s enough for now.”

She blew out a gush of air and her lip started to quiver. Tears spilled over her cheeks and I got up, went over to her and pulled my aunt from her chair. I wrapped my arms around her.

“Promise me you are going to find whoever did this to her.”

“I promise, and I will make them wish they were never born or hatched. I’ll do whatever it takes to make them feel the pain we all do now.”

A KNOCK ON the door came and Constance entered.

I didn’t want to speak to her anymore about anything; I didn’t want to speak to anyone. I’d said way too much already.

“Elena,” she said. “Matt is here, please speak to him. We want to help find who did this to you.”

I didn’t answer, just lay with my back to her and heard the door close.

I saw his hands first, clutching a board with forms filled with questions. He looked at me and smiled softly. His large nose was the only thing I focused on.

“Good Evening Princess.” He smiled, sighed and took the chair that was right in front of my bed. “If you had told me that Herbert was Jako and that your father was actually King Albert, I would’ve probably laughed.”

I smiled. “Who would’ve thought, huh?”

“Maybe I would have. You know you have his eyes, right? I bet you must have heard that a million times by now.”

“Don’t forget my mother’s grace.”

He chuckled.

“She was an amazing woman, Elena. I wish you’d had the chance to meet them.”

“I did, through her journals and the day I ascended, I saw my Dad.”

“He was a handsome bugger, right.”

“Ew.”

He laughed.

It was silent for a while.

“Please tell me who did this to you. Give me their names and I will do whatever is in my power to catch them, Elena. I promise you they will pay.”

I huffed. “They won’t. They live by different standards, different laws. The weak don’t get justice.”

“Constance told me it was one of the Wyvern cities, which one, a name is all I need.”

“I don’t know which one. I didn’t get time to explore and I didn’t want to find out as I thought I was safe from the Council.”

He squinted and plucked his eyebrows with his fingers as he stared at my bed. Telling him the names of the cities I knew was going to be a waste. They didn’t even have the Wyvern names right, what were the chances that the cities were.

“Then tell me North or West.”

“You are going to waste your time. It will mean war and I don’t have the strength or the ability to start one. I’ll be fine, Matt.”

It was a lie but I didn’t want him to know what had really happened. I didn’t want that pitying look on everyone’s faces as they stared at me, to hear their whispers that would be so loud in my ears. It was my own fault. I shouldn’t have run. I should’ve taken responsibility for my actions.

“Elena, please.”

“No, Matt. I just want to forget about it. Please.”

He nodded after a couple of seconds. “If that is your wish. If you change your mind, please ask anyone to give me a call. I want to catch them, Elena. They don’t deserve to live.”

It was really good to hear someone say it, wanting justice, but it wasn’t enough. There were too many casualties and Paul was right, every war had its casualties, plus I didn’t want Seymour or Billy to know I was alive. I’d rather die than see their faces again.

“Stay strong, Elena and I hope to see you again real soon.”

To my surprise, he left and I closed my eyes again and just thought of nothing. The voices outside were making me hate all of them. Why hadn’t they looked harder? When I heard Blake’s voice saying something, I wielded my shield around me and everything went silent.

Their sudden concern was making me think about that night. I didn’t want to think about what had happened, and the more people asked that question, the more it played through my mind. The more it played through my mind, the angrier I got, as I had a vicious dragon that could’ve saved me from this. He could’ve saved so many, but didn’t even think once about doing so. What was he even doing here?

Lucian was so wrong about him ever loving me like nobody else would. That would never happen, not now, not ever. I released him that day and that was how it was going to stay.

OPENED MY eyes again and it was dark. My heart beat fast again as I could sense someone inside my room.

I lifted my head up slightly and saw the arm of a figure standing right in front of my bed.

I swallowed hard as I searched for the panic button.

“Looking for this?” Seymour asked with the button in his hands.

“How did you survive, my little bird?”

I found my voice and screamed. I jolted up in bed. Seymour was gone and Constance barged into the room.

“It’s just a dream, you are safe, Elena. You are safe,” she whispered and I started to sob again. I’d been so strong and now, it was as if I’d gone back to being the old Elena who’d just discovered dragons were real. Worse, I was so much weaker than she had ever been.

I didn’t want to fall asleep but fatigue always came and it took over.

I woke up constantly from dreams of Seymour visiting me and they felt so real. And if it wasn’t Seymour it was images of what happened that night in the forest.

I would never be able to look at trees the same way ever again.

The only thing that constantly did pop up in my mind was what that one girl said the night Annie and I were taken. They were going to break me, and hard too.

I was broken, and to be honest, I didn’t think that this time I could pick up the pieces.

For four months the cockroaches had had nothing to print of me inside the tabloids, except WHERE IS SHE? Now I was back and they couldn’t wait to torture me again.

Becky and Sammy came every day but I didn’t want to see them. I wasn’t ready.

I didn’t give a crap about Blake. As far as I was concerned he should just stay as far away from me as he could. I didn’t even want to see him. I constantly wielded my shield to drown out background noises.

Constance came in too, so many times, but not once did she fight with me, interrupt me or tell me that this had to stop. Not once.

Queen Margerite and King Helmut wanted to take me back to the palace and to be honest that was a great idea, but the Council had given their verdict already.

I had to go back to the academy. Too much time had already been wasted, whatever that meant.

So on the tenth day, I had no choice but to pack my bags and wait for Master Longwei and Constance to come and get me.

One of the nurses brought in the release papers.

I missed Annie and worried about her. I was sure that Seymour was going to take it out on her. He knew that she was like a sister to me. I pushed her to the back of my mind. She wouldn’t make it this time. They would kill her. I couldn’t help her.

Jimmy and Monique had also visited me, while I was in the hospital.

Monique tried hard not to cry, and she was speaking about everything that had happened over the past four months, business wise. I didn’t want to hear anything about Blake and cut her off the first time she mentioned his name. Jimmy shook his head and smiled at me.

It was the most I’d got from him too. He had hardly spoken.

Isabel and Sir Robert also popped in on a daily basis.

Sir Robert tried on numerous occasions to find out the name of the Wyvern city, but I refused. I knew I was being selfish and that was the part he struggled with. When the fighting got too much, I would close my eyes and wield my shield. They all knew that whenever I did that, they had to go.

Plenty of people visited me and reporters sometimes just barged through.

Those pictures always landed up on the front page. It used to be embarrassing, but I didn’t care anymore.

I packed the last of my clothes in my leather bag that either Becky or Sammy had brought. I knew they meant well but I wasn’t ready.

I didn’t want to hear how they’d searched for me; they should’ve found me.

George was one of the best damn trackers in Dragonia Academy, if not one of the best in Paegeia. Paul was right, in that dream I’d had in the cave. My friends didn’t really care about me.

King Helmut tried to speak to me about him searching too.

He told me that he had sent out search parties, but that they would always come back empty handed.

He even asked me once if I was sure I was inside one of the Wyvern cities.

Wyverns weren’t fond of humans at all.

I knew where I was, it was a Wyvern city all right and one where humans rode on their backs.

I didn’t want them to find anything.

Yep, I said those words to King Helmut. I didn’t care about anything or about anyone anymore.

“Elena.” Constance’s soft voice came from the door, pulling me back to reality.

I turned around and found her smiling sweetly. It was so hard.

It felt as if they had all betrayed me because nobody really looked for me.

“You ready?”

I nodded, just to make her shut up really. I looked back at my bag on the bed. I put on my jersey and the glasses in my hand.

Becky had bought the glasses for my birthday and I sighed as I put them on.

Outside, every doctor and nurse that had cared for me the past ten days smiled.

They didn’t say anything. What could they say? Get well soon? I wasn’t sick, I had been assaulted. I hated that and hated the scum more.

It was one of the reasons I didn’t want to see Blake. He looked so much like Billy. It was because of Blake, because I’d been missing his face, that I’d trusted him, that I’d believed him when he said he would help me.

He also reminded me that he was well and alive. And that once again he had been a huge disappointment.

To be honest, I didn’t even know why I’d thought he would’ve searched for me when I’d discovered he was alive, but a part of me truly believed that there was still good somewhere inside of him, and that maybe, just maybe that kiss had done something, but it hadn’t.

Even though Constance did say he’d Dented after the kiss and that was why there had been so much blood. He was still Blake and he would always end up disappointing me. Letting me down when I needed him the most. No more, that door had closed.

I was in a nightmare because of him.

I dabbed away the tears and tried to prepare myself for what was waiting for me outside.

Deep breaths, Elena.

I opened the doors and found… Emanual.

He was smiling at me with so much compassion. He ended up giving me a bear of a hug when I couldn’t stay strong anymore. It made my body turn into a pillar. I stepped away from his hug and couldn’t look at him. Still I was grateful that there were no flashing lights, no irritating questions, no Kevin, nothing. It was only Emanual.

“I’ll take it from here,” he said to Constance.

“They might be at the Academy.” Constance sounded concerned.

“I know what to do, Constance. Don’t worry.”

I gave her one last glance and she smiled sweetly before I jumped into the SUV that was parked right in front of the steps.

“Who might be at the Academy, the press?”

“Don’t worry. We’re not going to take that route. I found another way to go to the Academy.” He flinched slightly at the beginning of the sentence.

“Why weren’t they at the hospital?” I couldn’t believe how easy it was to still speak to him. He was a guy, but for some reason I felt safe with him.

“Constance told them that she would devour each and every one of them if they showed up, I seconded it.”

To my surprise I laughed. It was a good laugh. I couldn’t imagine what it would look like or whether they were actually going to do it, but it was comical in my head, seeing a Swallow Annex and a Sun-Blast picking up people with their claws and swallowing them whole.

Then I thought about Kevin again. He had been threatened many times but he’d never backed down.

“Seriously Emanual, how did you guys do it?”

“We asked them nicely Elena. That day a couple just barged into your room pretending to be nurses and took pictures while asking questions. It was uncalled for and I really did threaten them.” He sighed. “Kevin was another story and when you are eventually up for it he wants an exclusive interview with you on ‘Just Kev.’”

I grunted. I hated that show and yes, I’d been a regular topic ever since that day the vault opened up.

“When you are ready Elena, not today or any day soon.”

I nodded.

It was silent for a long time.

“Where the hell were you, Elena? We searched everywhere and couldn’t find you.”

“I told you where I was. Please I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Elena there are people that can help bring them to justice, believe me. Those seven idiots….”

I looked at him and a painful expression pulled Emanual’s face.

“How do you know about them?”

He took a couple of breaths. To be honest I didn’t give a shit about what sort of pain he was going through, probably a bad burrito or a sick deer he’d devoured.

“Their scent lingered on you. I breathed it all in.” He spoke fast and it looked as if the pain was starting to pass.

He breathed it all in.

“How many people know this?” I hated that Emanual knew that I’d been assaulted. He was the last person that I wanted to know.

“A couple, those that matter and can actually do something about bringing them to justice, Elena.”

I nodded as a tear escaped my eyes and looked back out the window to wipe it away. He would look at me completely differently now, like I was some sort of injured deer, begging to be put out of its misery.

“Hey, I will find them eventually and then they are going to wish they were never born, you hear?”

I nodded but didn’t look at him. I really didn’t want to speak about it.

He took a side road, one that didn’t lead to the Academy and my heart started to beat slightly faster again.

I could tell he heard the change and he closed his eyes and glanced out his side of the window.

“I’ll never hurt you like that, Elena. You are my princess and that is the way it’s going to stay.”

“Sorry, I guess I’ll need a bit more time.” I rubbed my hands and lay with my head on my knees. I felt like an idiot.

“Take all the time you need. This road is the one I spoke about earlier to avoid the paparazzi that might try to break the deal.”

I sat with my back straight, took a deep breath and nodded.

We drove a couple of miles into the forest. My heart pounded again and I took more deep breaths. I could feel that Emanual didn’t like it one bit. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, well, maybe I didn’t fully, but the forest had lost its beauty to me, every time I saw so many trees that day replayed inside my head.

He parked the car under one and went behind a tree, I saw the transformation partially and a beautiful Sun-Blast walked back out.

“It’s safe, Princess. Nobody is ever going to hurt you, that’s my Dragon oath.”

I sucked in breath as he said that. I knew what a dragon oath meant to them. They would die or could die if they ever said it out loud. It made me pissed off and I climbed out of the car. “Why did you say that?” I yelled at the big beautiful mutt that reminded me of a Chinese dragon.